A reading list for housing people
The data, the books, the tools behind the work.
Every primary source I cite, every reference I keep close. Updated as the list changes.
№ 01 — Primary Data
Where the numbers actually come from.
01 Census Bureau Building Permits Survey Monthly and annual permit data by geography, structure type, and unit count. The authoritative source for local permit pipeline data. Datasets 02 HUD New Residential Construction Monthly starts, completions, and under-construction data from Census/HUD. Released mid-month for the prior month. Datasets
№ 02 — Papers & Research
The academic and policy work worth reading.
№ 03 — Links Library
Links from our Substack Articles and Notes
Fresh from the latest post, Another Executive Order : The Show That Never Ends.
01 Realer 10142026 “real wages” bls.gov 02 Newresconst 202609 “housing starts” census.gov 03 NRC - Historical Releases “are available” census.gov 04 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) | NAHB “builder sentiment” nahb.org 05 Mortgage applications decrease in latest mba weekly survey “mortgage applications” mba.org 06 The Story Millrose Told Investors Doesn't Match the Evidence “accusations” hntrbrk.com 07 Lennar Corporation Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript | Fortune “earnings call” fortune.com 08 Berkshire Hathaway Says It's Now America's 4th-Largest Homebuilder. It Also Owns More Than 10% of Lennar. “Berkshire bought” finance.yahoo.com 09 Berkshire Bought $193 Million More Lennar. Abel Doesn’t “Envision a Quick Recovery” “Berkshire Hathaway purchased” finance.yahoo.com 10 Zero Interest-Rate Policy: Goals, Risks, and Impact on Economy “Zero-Interest-Rate Policy (“ZIRP”) era” investopedia.com
Templates
The spreadsheets I actually use.
The same templates I open every Monday — for tracking starts data, building a quick lot pro-forma, and stress-testing affordability under rate scenarios.
Free for paid subscribers.
Get the templates →Starts & Permits TrackerXLSX · auto-pulls Census API
↓ Download Lot Pro-Forma WorksheetXLSX · land-cost-to-margin walkthrough
↓ Download Affordability Scenario ModelXLSX · rate, price, income sensitivity
↓ Download Year-End Chart PackZIP · PNGs + CSVs
↓ Download Get the work as it ships
Free essays, in your inbox.
One long read every other week. A Data Dig the morning the Census drops.